"Different how?"

Jiang Yubi said, "As in, Weiyuan suddenly declared one day that he wants to become the Mafia King."

Lihua was taken aback. She had never expected to hear this out of all things.

"Really?"

"Yes. This happened when they were young and Weizhe was going through the training to be the next Mafia King aka the Boss after the Old Master. Weiyuan was training to become the underboss who is the second-in-command after Weizhe. Weizhe didn't tell me much about those days. But then Weiyuan suddenly came up to the Old Master and said that he wants to take over from Weizhe and become the Mafia King."

Lihua frowned. "But I don't understand why."

She shook her head. "Neither did Weizhe ever understand the sudden change in his demeanor. But after that declaration, he began to hamper Weizhe's training. He did everything he could to surpass him and in that process, Weizhe lost a lot of things. Weiyuan had completely cut him off. He strove to shine better than Weizhe in whatever he did. And ultimately, Old Madam began to wonder if Weiyuan could indeed be the next Mafia King."

"Wait, wait! Old Madam said that?" Lihua was genuinely shocked upon hearing that.

"Yes. Weizhe told me that he heard her talking about it once. There was a debate if Weiyuan was more capable to be the Mafia King."

Her brows heavily furrowed themselves. "But isn't she really adamant in only the eldest son inheriting everything? She wanted Jiang Lanying to marry only Wei, the eldest son of the family."

"Indeed, it is the tradition that only the eldest son becomes the heir of the family. The Mafia is a very organized syndicate. There is a strict hierarchy and everybody is supposed to follow that. Under no circumstances, there will be a change in the position and the power that everybody in the family would hold. The flow must be from the father to his eldest son and then he would pass it on to his eldest son."

"What if it's the eldest daughter?"

"Well, if she has a younger brother, then the title would go to him. The daughters don't hold any power in the Underworld. At an appropriate age, they are married off."

She frowned. "But what if there are only daughters? Will the power go to the son-in-law instead?"

Jiang Yubi widened her eyes. "No way. The Jiang family would never hand over the Mafia King title outside the bloodline. Giving it to a son-in-law of a different family is impossible. In that case, if the previous decessor has a younger brother, then he or his son, if any, would inherit the title and power. For example, if I had given birth to a daughter, Weiyuan would have become the Mafia King. Then he would pass it on to Li after he was born. It's the next eldest son in line who gets it."

Her mouth twitched. "So patriarchal. What if there are only daughters in the family?" She couldn't help but ask again.

"Then they would pass it on to her son but then her husband would have to change his name and become a Jiang. He would have to become a part of the Jiang family instead of the daughter getting her husband's surname."

"So complicated for my brain…"

Jiang Yubi sighed. "It is indeed. Weizhe's grandfather greatly favored boys. It was so many years back so it was common to have patriarchal families."

Lihua blinked her eyes. "But isn't the Old Madam the Matriarch now?"

"Yes, because Old Master is no more. So temporarily, she has the position. She was supposed to make Weizhe as the head of the family but then…" her gaze dimmed, "because he married me, it caused clashes between them so she refused to hand him the position. There was Weiyuan too, but again, he is the second son and she didn't want to break the tradition. So most probably, she should make Wei the next head of the family."

Ugh…Will she now? I mean she doesn't like me either like Mom and she already dislikes Wei because of that…

Lihua snapped out of her stupor. "Sorry for my questions. I think we diverted too much from the main topic," coughed in embarrassment.

"Ah, yes! You asked about the Old Madam agreeing to Weiyuan becoming the Mafia King. But of course, the Old Master vehemently rejected this idea. There was no scope of any change. So ultimately, Weizhe got it in the end no matter how hard Weiyuan tried."

"Oh. But how does it connect to…"

She faintly smiled. "In that phase when Weiyuan was fiercely competing with him, he felt as if had completely lost him as a brother. He became distant with Xiurang too. There was a shift in favor towards Weiyuan as he excelled in everything that inadvertently left Weizhe lonely."

Her eyes brimmed with tears. "I could feel it in his gaze when he had shared this part of his life with me. It was a hard time for a ten-year-old boy to live completely cut off from his siblings. As Weiyuan gained more favor from Old Madam, Weizhe was slowly left behind. His relationship with his parents wasn't close. They only focused on his training. You could say that he lived a lonely life despite having a family. So when I got pregnant, he got afraid."

Suddenly, it dawned upon Lihua on what must have happened. She felt that she got a glimpse of Jiang Weizhe's feelings.

Jiang Yubi went into a trance as she remembered that day as if it was just yesterday.

"Yubi... don't bring him into this world, Yubi…" Jiang Weizhe was trembling as he rested his head on her hand. He hid his face, trying to hide his panic and the faint trace of tears in his eyes, "I have only you in this world, Yubi. Th-there is nobody else left. This child will take you away from me. If I lose you, then I wouldn't be able to live anymore...Don't leave me, Yubi. Please don't leave me…"

"Weizhe, he won't take me away. In fact, his presence would make your life even happier. There won't be just me anymore in your world."

"But I don't want anybody else other than you. I don't want to share you with anybody, Yubi. I don't want anybody to come between us. I am scared, Yubi...I am really scared…I don't want anybody else in your world other than me…"